Shelter Islanders are turning sunlight into power: Join the solar tour and find out how.
Do you think solar panels are only for hard core environmentalists? When you think of a home solar array, do you imagine rows of black squares baking on the roof in a treeless yard?
On Sunday, Aug. 24, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., you can visit four Shelter Island homes and one church to see how your neighbors are harnessing the energy of the sun to create electricity.
You’ll see how arrays of solar panels on Shelter Island roofs are reducing dependence on fossil fuels, enhancing the value of the property, and saving homeowners a boat load of money.
Organized by the Green Options Committee, the tour features homes that have taken a variety of approaches to generating solar power, with some installations put up a decade ago, and some more recently. Visiting them, and hearing what the homeowners have to say about how they decided to install photovoltaic cells (a term of art for solar panels) is a great way to start thinking about your own solar installation.
You may have heard that Federal incentives to install solar panels are going away in September. Energy analyses conducted by the Green Options Committee with an expertise grant from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory suggests that even without Federal incentives, the savings on energy costs make solar a good choice for many buildings.
The Solar Tour is free, but please go to the Green Options Committee page on the Town website to register. Once you register, you will see the addresses of the five tour sites, detailed information about each of them, and a map to help you find them.
One of the sites is the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, which is offering a tour of their solar installation, as well as hosting a social networking hour from 4:30-5:30 p.m. with refreshments for all participants to meet and discuss what they’ve seen.
